Dead Space: Extraction Review

Dead Space: Extraction sets up to be one of the Wii’s most anticipated titles and has been a long time coming. The sheer look of the game was sought after during E3 and was hyped by all of its trailers and teasers. The only problem that most people did not anticipate was that this Wii title was going to be an on rail shooter for the console.

If you were expecting your quick run and gun rail shooter, you might need to look elsewhere. Although it doesn’t pack as much of a punch as its Xbox 360 counterpart, this prequel has a lot of good going for it.

The Visuals:

The game starts out in a dark mining area with you and two others looking for the “mark” later referred to as the artifact. The visuals in the opening scenes and the first scene are just a glimpse as to how great this game really gets. There are some great lighting effects and the enemies start to vary early on. There are also some smaller things like the melee attack that give the game a real FPS feel but in a rail form.

The controls:

Like I said before, if you were looking to have this be just another run and gun rail-esque shooter, you will be disappointed. With the A button you are able to pull/move objects along with the movement of the remote. The joystick is used to slide through your weapons while the Z button is used for reloading. The C is less used being that you don’t come by many objects you have to slow down, but it looks sweet to slow-mo an enemy and blow a limb or two off. Shaking the nunchuk also releases your melee attack. Ah, of course, now comes the pleasantly and commonly used B trigger/button used of course, to shoot. Twisting the Wii Remote also gives you an alternate firing option for most guns. I cannot tell you enough the gratitude I bestowed upon the EA published Visceral Games developed team for the consideration of the Wii Zapper, making use of a good accessory. Also, shaking the Wii Remote also allows you to power up your light source and shakes enemies along with some smaller button combos.

The gameplay:

There are many things that I like about this game. What? A Wii title that can be deemed g.g..g…great!? Yes, I think Dead Space: Extraction does go above and beyond to make it a great title. The look, the feel, the fabric of this game? Any cotton fans? Anyways, it doesn’t play like you think it would. It’s almost like when you get to that point and you say, “I guess I can finally save and come back to it later.” But instead, it makes it even easier to keep going and the storyline won’t bore you to death. There are also many upgrades loaded in the each chapter and there is even times when you have free control of the camera. The different paths and upgrades give it some replay value and the unlockables give it a little more umphh.

Dislikes:

The only thing that I can say that I don’t like about this title is some of the voice acting. In the the beginning there is sort of an awkward moment where the character says, “okay I love you, later.” Love you, later? I get that he is getting off the walkie/visi-screen, but really? Another is the lack of online gameplay. The game supports multiplayer so that you can blast away limbs with a friend, which is a plus–but a negative mark on the chart without online play.

Other than the minuscule annoyances, it would have been nice to play this as a full motion FPS, but I guess we can all at least enjoy and appreciate what we have now. Hey Visceral Games, get with the “Conduit” High Voltage team, let’s build something that the Wii might have a turning point in history on. If you are a collector then it would be great to buy, if you are even interested in it I urge you to rent it. Either way, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.